Chris Trevor (Flynn, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to address the Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Australian Apprentices) Bill 2009, which seeks to benefit Australian apprentices who are eligible to receive payments under two new Australian government programs—Skills for Sustainability for Australian Apprentices and Tools For Your Trade—under the Australian Apprenticeships Incentives Program. This bill ensures that eligible Australian apprentices receive the full benefit of the payments without deductions. The bill makes minor adjustments to the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997, the Social Security Act 1991 and the Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986 to exempt from taxation and treatment as taxable income payments made to Australian apprentices under the two programs. In addition, this bill exempts the value of the payments made under the Skills for Sustainability for Australian Apprentices and Tools For Your Trade under the Australian Apprenticeships Incentives Program from treatment as assessable income for taxation, social security and veterans affairs purposes. The amendments ensure that eligible Australian apprentices receive the full benefit of the payments made under the two new programs and are consistent with the taxation treatment of previous programs that have paid personal benefits to Australian apprentices.

The Skills for Sustainability for Australian Apprentices payment is a pilot program within the Skills for the Carbon Challenge initiative. This initiative is an outcome of the Australia 2020 Summit and aims to accelerate the response of industry and the tertiary education sector to climate change. To encourage Australian apprenticeships to undertake sustainability related training, payment of $1,000 will be provided to eligible Australian apprentices who have successfully completed the required level of training, which teaches skills in sustainability and environmentally sustainable work practices.

The Tools for Your Trade payment, within the broader Australian Apprenticeships Incentives Program, combines and extends three administratively complex programs previously available to Australian apprentices into the one payment. This new payment comprises five separate cash payments totalling $3,800 paid over the life of the Australian Apprenticeship. The new arrangements reduce the administrative burden on employers and broaden eligibility criteria, benefiting more Australian apprentices and ensuring that Australian apprentices in skills shortage trades are eligible for the same level of financial support regardless of age and employer size. These two new programs represent significant measures that encourage Australian apprentices to develop skills in sustainable buildings and industry and ease the financial burden for Australian apprentices undertaking Australian Apprenticeships in areas of national skills shortage.

One organisation that is doing wonderful work for apprentices is Gladstone Area Group Apprentices Ltd. This company is situated in my home town of Gladstone, Queensland, in the electorate of Flynn. Since their inception in 1985 Gladstone Area Group Apprentices Ltd, commonly known as GAGAL, has facilitated skills development through the employment and training of apprentices and trainees to service the needs of my community of Flynn. Today this community includes the Banana, Miriam Vale, Calliope and Duaringa shires as well as Gladstone city, where they employ over 450 apprentices and trainees. A group training organisation or GTO like GAGAL offers a comprehensive service for both employers and potential employees. Through the coordination of apprenticeships and traineeships, job seekers are able to regain recognised skills and qualifications that will create the foundations for a lifelong career in their chosen trade. For the business community of Flynn, GAGAL is able to provide a strong support network for employing apprentices and trainees without having to commit to the full term of training. This leads to a more diverse and exciting training period for the employee, while allowing greater flexibility and freedom for the host employer.

The Central Queensland area traditionally has a high demand for trades in the manufacturing and construction industries and GAGAL offers apprenticeship opportunities in 20 different trade classifications from boilermaking to carpentry. Its traineeship programs also cover a wide variety of categories, including business, retail and horticulture. All of the field officers come from within these fields, and their years of industry and business experience provide invaluable support for their apprentices and trainees. GAGAL works closely with business and industry interests in the area and has established close relationships with major employers in my electorate such as Anglo Coal, Bechtel and BMA Blackwater Mine. GAGAL also offers school based apprenticeships and traineeships that allow high school students to develop skills and acquire qualifications while continuing their secondary studies. It should be noted that in 1997 GAGAL initiated the first school based apprenticeship program with the commencement of 11 apprentices in metal fabrication. The outstanding and overwhelming success of this program and the interest it generated have seen school based training grow exponentially across the nation. Today thousands of students undertake school based apprenticeships and traineeships in every state and territory in Australia.

GAGAL has constructed hundreds of houses, duplexes and units across the area, including important community projects like the Roseberry House Youth Shelter in Gladstone. GAGAL was integral in the formation of GAGAL Biloela, set up in 1997 to service the growing number of apprentices in the Callide and Dawson valleys district. GAGAL established GAGAL Blackwater in 2005 to further improve services to their major host, BMA Blackwater Mine.

The GAGAL pre-employment program is designed to assist disadvantaged Indigenous community members into the workforce. The program is funded through the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations and works one to one to ensure that participants are job ready and able to take up full-time employment at the end of the program. Participants are encouraged into apprenticeship opportunities as and when they become available. GAGAL continues to maintain its commitment to the Central Queensland Indigenous community and has overseen a number of very successful Indigenous employment programs. GAGAL Pre-Employment is a pre-employment program with a difference, offering Indigenous participants individually tailored training packages covering all aspects from removing barriers to obtaining gainful employment. Participants are required to be registered with or eligible for Centrelink assistance and to be currently unemployed with a desire to obtain employment. Throughout the program, and depending on individual needs, participants in small groups for six weeks are provided with formal and informal training in areas such as cultural safety, health and fitness, certificate II in life skills, numeracy and literacy, drug and alcohol, goal setting, confidence and self-esteem.

Skills for Sustainability for Australian Apprentices is an outcome, as I said earlier tonight, of the Australia 2020 Summit. It aims to accelerate industry’s and the tertiary education sector’s responses to climate change by providing practical incentives for industry to focus on developing skills for sustainability. The incentives contained in the Skills for Sustainability measure are designed to encourage employers and Australian apprentices in selected National Skills Needs List occupations to undertake a threshold level of sustainability related training. The goal is to develop an appropriately skilled workforce that can meet the rising demand for sustainable buildings, technologies and industries.

The new Tools for Your Trade payment represents a substantial improvement on previous arrangements for both Australian apprentices and their employers. Under the previous arrangements, Australian apprentices were required to claim the three payments from two different providers. As each of the programs had different eligibility criteria, Australian apprentices in the same occupation may have received different levels of financial support based on criteria outside their control such as age or the size of their employers. The new Tools for Your Trade payment addresses these inequities and inefficiencies. The streamlined delivery arrangements also remove unnecessary red tape. The new Tools for Your Trade payment program will include agricultural apprentices and trainees in rural and regional Australia, horticultural apprentices and trainees, furthering the Rudd Labor government’s commitment to the rural people of my community of Flynn and Australia generally. I commend this bill to the House.

David Bradbury (Lindsay, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise in support of the Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Australian Apprentices) Bill 2009. The substance of the bill goes to the tax exemption which is to be provided in respect of two payments, payments that are made under the Skills for Sustainability for Australian Apprentices program and payments made under the Tools for Your Trade program. It brings together a number of programs in respect of the Tools for Your Trade program. Apart from treating payments made under these programs as being exempt from income tax, these payments will also be disregarded for the purposes of social security and veterans affairs legislation when it comes to the income test which would otherwise apply there.

The Skills for Sustainability for Australian Apprentices program had its origins back at the Australia 2020 Summit. As a result of discussions at that summit, it was decided that an appropriate way forward in trying to expedite both industry and the tertiary education sectors’ preparations for developing the skill sets needed to prepare for a low-carbon economy required assistance, and out of that proposition came a payment of $1,000 which will be provided to eligible Australian apprentices who have successfully completed the required level of training provided that that is in an area where they are taught skills in sustainability and environmentally sustainable work practices. It is an important way of investing in skills but in particular investing in the skills that our low-carbon economy in the future is going to require.

In addition to that, the Tools for Your Trade payment simplifies a series of payments that were previously made and, in doing so, I think not only improves the lot of the apprentice in receipt of a payment but also improves the lot more particularly of the employer in meeting their compliance obligations and overcoming the regulatory barriers that for many employers can often pose an insurmountable obstacle to them taking that step to engage a young apprentice. So I welcome the substantive programs.

I also welcome the tax treatment that is proposed as part of this bill. The issue of apprenticeships and traineeships is an issue that is very dear to my heart. It is an issue that I have been working on very actively in my local community with a range of stakeholders to try to ensure that we are meeting the skills needs of industry in our local community. With the support of the Rudd government, our local community has been yielding some dividends when it comes to tackling the skills challenges that we face.

Firstly, I would like to refer to the trades training centre announcements that were made a little bit earlier in the year. They go to the issue of ensuring that we are able, in the first instance, to continue to engage young people in their secondary education. This is a very big issue in my local community where there are very high rates of students dropping out and not going on to years 11 and 12. It is important not only in addressing that issue of engagement but, more particularly, in meeting the skills needs and challenges that our country faces. I pay tribute to the great work of Penrith City Council and its many staff members who very proactively some time ago set about the business of trying to establish where those areas of skill shortage exist in our local community. In doing so, they have been able to clearly articulate where those areas of skill shortage have existed and where they have emerged in recent times.

Of course as we have been hit by the steepest global recession in 75 years, since the Great Depression, we see that to some extent some of the goalposts are moving. But the Rudd government’s commitment is to invest in skills and jobs today to deliver the infrastructure that our nation needs in the future and they are investing in trades training centres in my local community.

We are very fortunate in my local community that we have received funding for two trades training centres. In the first instance we have a trades training centre auspiced by the government school sector in my local community. There are a number of schools involved in the project, Kingswood High School being the host facility. It operates on a hub-and-spoke approach and there are a number of other schools also involved in this particular proposition. Cambridge Park High is one of them, and I acknowledge, as I think I have done before in this place, the good work of Mr Roger Berry, the principal of Cambridge Park High, who was also the author of that application. There is also Glenmore Park, Cranebrook, Nepean, Jamison, and Blaxland high schools. So it is a very cooperative effort, and one of the great things about this particular proposal is that the schools have come together and pooled their resources.

We are all aware that under the government’s proposals for trades training centres individual allocations were available to be applied for by the individual schools. In respect of this proposal, and indeed the other proposal, to which I will speak shortly, we see that by pooling funds schools have been able to work collaboratively and cooperatively to deliver facilities on a much grander scale than would otherwise be the case. I am certain that our local community will benefit from that cooperation.

So $7.2 million has been allocated for the Penrith Cluster Trades Training Centre, which is under the auspices of the government schools in my community. There was also funding of approximately $6 million for the proposal brought forward by McCarthy Catholic College at Emu Plains. I recognise the efforts of Kevin Wholohan, the principal of McCarthy Catholic College, for his authorship of the proposal that was ultimately successful. McCarthy is working with Caroline Chisholm, Glenmore Park, Xavier College Llandilo and St Columba’s up at Springwood to deliver a trades training centre for that broader catchment of young people, in particular within the Catholic school system in that case.

Now whilst the Kingswood High School facility is focused predominantly on state-of-the-art metal work and other engineering facilities, we see with the McCarthy Catholic College training centre a more diverse series of areas targeted, ranging across certificate III training areas including automotive, mechanical, electro-communications industries and a range of other areas.

These proposals came out of a very consultative process in our local community. In fact, shortly after being elected at the end of 2007 I convened a meeting of all principals within my local community. Subsequent to that the principals came back for a further session on trades training centre proposals. Out of this cooperation and collaboration came these two proposals which were ultimately funded. They will provide facilities that will assist us in our local community to ensure that we are investing in the skills that our community needs into the future. It ties in very nicely with the stimulus measures that the government has implemented, and indeed additional funds for trades training centres were provided as part of the Nation Building and Jobs Plan. In delivering this investment upfront we are supporting local jobs here and now but doing so to deliver the infrastructure that our nation needs into the long term.

Out of the discussions that we had at the local level with industry, local school communities and training providers came the notion that we as a local community needed to do more to address the issue of skills shortages. As a result of those discussions, the Penrith Valley Economic Development Corporation, in May 2008, helped to drive interest in a proposal to convene a meeting—a seminar, a forum—on the issue of addressing skills shortages. That was a very successful forum. I note that many positive things came out of that forum. There is one thing in particular that I would like to refer to. I recall Mrs Lea Hicks from Hix Electrical, a very successful local business person in my community, made an important observation which I am pleased to see has been picked up in subsequent government initiatives. She is part of a business that has shown and demonstrated a real commitment to training and providing apprenticeships to young people in our community. She made the point that one way government could provide practical assistance and practical incentives to local employers to engage apprentices was by providing some incentive for doing so, particularly when it came to tendering for government contracts and government related work.

In that context I was very pleased to see that in the press statement released on 19 February this year by the Deputy Prime Minister—at the same time as she made a speech at the Sydney Institute and released the government’s securing apprenticeships plan—there was a specific reference to this notion. In that press release the Deputy Prime Minister said:

In tendering new Australian Government funded infrastructure projects, preference will be given to businesses which demonstrate a commitment to retain and employ new trainees and apprentices.

What we see here is the government responding to and acting upon specific representations—made by not just members of my community although that is so in the case of Mrs Hicks—and also, no doubt, sentiments being expressed by employers, particularly small business employers, right around the country. So I am very pleased to see that the government has picked up on that. That is of particular significance when you consider the scale of government infrastructure spending at the moment. To put that into context, look at the $22 billion infrastructure plan that was announced as part of the budget and on top of that the largest school modernisation project in Australia’s history and many other very serious and sizeable capital works projects initiated at the government’s instigation.

As part of the securing apprenticeships plan, the Deputy Prime Minister also set out some details in relation to specific measures designed as a buffer to protect our apprentices and trainees from the impacts of the global recession. In particular, additional funds have been made available to employers and group training organisations in respect of eligible apprentices to ensure that out-of-trade apprentices or former apprentices or trainees who did not successfully complete their apprenticeships due to being laid off can be picked up by new employers or group training organisations. It is a very sensible initiative, one that responds to the very dramatic events so far as the downturn in the international economy is concerned. In doing so, we are protecting the already partly built skills base that exists in those partly trained apprentices and trainees who, through no fault of their own, may have been laid off as a consequence of the global downturn. So this is a particularly significant initiative and, when viewed in the context of the overall commitment to apprenticeships and traineeships in the budget—with the government investing $3.8 billion over four years—it shows that this is a government that is determined to make good on its commitment to deliver for apprentices and trainees.

I recall a number of years ago, when the Labor Party was in opposition and the trade training centre policy was first announced by the now Prime Minister, Mr Rudd said words to the effect of, ‘We in the Labor Party value a trade qualification as much as we value a university education.’ It is important to understand the significance of that statement, in that it acknowledges that, when we look across the spectrum of where the skills shortages in this country exist, they will not be filled simply by facilitating more university graduates. While that is an aspiration that we all strive towards—because improving the knowledge base of this country is an end worth pursuing in its own right—there are a range of skills shortages within the trades that need to be addressed if we are to meet the needs of our economy.

So I was very pleased that that statement was made back when the Prime Minister was Leader of the Opposition, before my time in this place, but I am even more pleased to see that now that we are in government we are delivering on that commitment. We are delivering on that commitment through a range of initiatives. This particular bill, in a small way, contributes to the overall package of reforms and measures that we are implementing to ensure that we are investing in apprentices and trainees so that we can prepare our economy and ourselves for the future. I support the bill.

Mike Symon (Deakin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak in support of the Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Australian Apprentices) Bill 2009, which is before the House. It was many years ago—some might say many, many years ago—that I signed up for an apprenticeship; I think it was back in 1982. Four years later, out I came, a qualified electrical mechanic. That was quite common at the time; a lot of people came out of school and did trades training. But it did not take long for that level to drop off. In fact, I was only into the second year of my apprenticeship, in 1983, when there was a fairly hefty downturn as a result of a recession. Not only did employers stop taking on apprentices but many apprentices already in the trade were either laid off or stood down indefinitely—which was pretty much the same as being laid off—or, in the case of the employer I worked for, the 40-odd apprentices were all put on what was politely termed ‘week on, week off’. The effect of that was that you only got to work one week out of every fortnight and therefore that is what you got paid for. As an incentive to get more apprentices in the trades, it did not work; as an incentive to keep apprentices on, it worked in one way. But the point is that back in the 1980s there were really no support mechanisms for apprentices in times of downturn.

I have believed for a long time, and it has been said by many, that apprentice rates in many industries are too low. That is compared to the wages that are on offer for the same type of people in casual or part-time industries. It can be said of a lot of industries that the first-year apprentice wage can be bettered by the wages for working in a local retail store. Of course, young people do not always realise at the time where the training will lead and where the opportunities will come from in the future, especially economically.

As I said, in the 1980s there was no additional support for apprentices and no special measures aimed at keeping them in the industry. There was no extra support from either the Commonwealth or state governments to top up their meagre wages or even provide any form of the support that we recognise is most needed and valuable these days.

In downturns, it is always tough. I came through the building industry, where when there is a boom on they cannot find enough workers and, when there is a bust on, workers cannot find a job. That is what happened in the 1980s, and it happened again in the 1990s. Fortunately, we have not got to that point in the current decade. But, when it did happen, there used to be some informal mechanisms, not through government but through employers. Occasionally, an employer that did have work would say, ‘Well, I’ll borrow some of your apprentices so that we can keep them in jobs.’ It used to be a bit of a gentleman’s agreement. That still goes on today in some ways, and those employers are to be congratulated for taking those sorts of steps. But what it led to—and it is still a problem these days—was many people who started trades apprenticeships not finishing them. It can be because of wages; it can be for lack of opportunity; it can be for lack of direction. It is frustrating.

I have watched many apprentices start and get through to their third or fourth year and then pack up and leave. That means all that time that they spent in training is no use to anyone—not to the apprentice, not to the employer and not to the industry. I have seen kids come in as apprentices and I have worked beside them for a couple of years, and they have then turned up one day, and said, ‘No, I’ve found a better job; I’m going to go work in the police force.’ I know of one who went and worked as a used car salesman instead of as an electrician. Certainly, I always scratched my head over it. I think I was one of the fortunate ones who saw the value of the trade then and still do now.

Some of them moved on to other careers in the Defence Force or went back to school or university—and good on them for that, but the loss of people to the trade back then was not addressed. A person who does not complete a training program in a trade cannot go back a decade later and pick up where they left off. Things change. The theoretical syllabus for most trades changes and the practical on-the-job work can change as well, and we have seen that happen a lot in recent years.

It was not just the apprentices leaving the trade in that time that was causing the drop in apprenticeship numbers; there was also a really big drop in the intake of apprentices. Especially in Victoria, that was a huge issue right through the 1980s and into the 1990s. One of the reasons—and it still hurts the skilled labour pool today—is that state government instrumentalities at the time were undergoing privatisation. Many of those were very large employers of apprentices—the state electricity commission, the waterworks, the railways, and the gas and fuel authorities. Between them they employed hundreds of apprentices every year. Usually when those apprentices completed their time they were released to private industry, helping fill some of the gaps there. At the same time that was happening, private industry also dropped its apprentice intake. In recent years we have seen great need in skill shortages areas, and a lot of that really does go back to those years.

That brings me to the Australian Apprenticeships Incentives Program, which is part of this bill. It provides incentives for apprentices. Some were already there but this makes it a whole lot easier. The Tools for Your Trade payment is currently made by a voucher system. I have looked at the voucher system—I got the forms and tried to follow it through on the web—and it was probably a good idea at the time, but it is difficult to follow. There are waiting periods and various other things that may dissuade an apprentice from joining a trade or may seem too hard for someone who is thinking about leaving.

The enhanced Tools for Your Trade program, which is included in the Australian Apprenticeships Incentives Program, will be available to more Australian apprentices and will reduce the burden of administration on employers. It will streamline three existing support payments—the Tools for Your Trade voucher, the apprenticeship wage top-up and the Commonwealth trade learning scholarship—into the one Tools for Your Trade payment under the Australian Apprenticeships Incentives Program. Australian apprentices in skill shortage trades will be eligible for the same level of support from the Commonwealth government regardless of age and the size of the employer.

The broader Australian Apprenticeships Incentives Program comprises five cash payments over the period of an apprenticeship: $800 will be paid at the three-month point of the apprenticeship, a further $800 will be paid at both the 12- and 24-month points, $700 is paid at the 36-month point and another $700 is paid on completion. These payments total $3,800—a significant incentive for attracting people to, and retaining them in, trades training. These payments will be tax free and will help apprentices meet the cost of tools, books, protective clothing and fees.

Agricultural apprentices and trainees will also be included under this program, along with horticultural apprentices and trainees in rural and regional Australia. The new arrangements for eligibility will have the effect of increasing the number of Australian apprentices eligible for support under this program by up to 14,000 people annually. With the total estimated cost of this program being $670 million over four years, it will help attract and retain apprentices in the defined skill shortage occupations.

The second element of this bill is the introduction of the Skills for Sustainability for Australian Apprentices incentive, which will support training for apprentices in sustainability and environmentally sustainable work practices in selected national skills needs list occupations. These in many cases are new skills. These are not the sorts of skills that someone of my age would have learnt during trade training because the technologies and products were not there. The world changes and we and our tradespeople need to keep up. Apprentices being trained now especially need to be trained in the technologies of today and the technologies of the future.

The opportunities for training are already there in some cases, but training is not being done in a coordinated way. Various employers have seen a niche in the market and have jumped in early. I certainly congratulate them for what they do, but there does need to be a far wider and more systemic effort if we are going to have trained people available to do the work that will come up as we change our economy. As we head towards a lower carbon economy, we will need more people trained in sustainable jobs so that when we change—maybe when we change existing buildings or production processes—we have people who know how to do the job. It is too late when we get to that point to say, ‘Where are we going to find this workforce?’ That training needs to start as soon as possible.

An Australian apprentice on completing the required level of sustainability related training will be eligible for a payment of $1,000. This program, which is costed over four years at $20 million, will run as a pilot program within the Skills for the Carbon Challenge Initiative, which was an outcome of last year’s Australia 2020 Summit. These two payments are part of range of support programs that are, or will shortly be, available for Australian apprentices and their employers in these industries.

All up these investments represent a total of $5 billion in apprenticeship and related training funding over four years. They also include programs such as support for mid-career apprentices, which is available to selected trades and will be extended for those aged 30 and over down to those aged 25 and over. That also is a particularly good initiative. One of the problems with attracting people to apprenticeships—and it has been a longstanding issue—is age. Most apprenticeships, even though they are paid on year level of training, also have particular clauses in legislative instruments that say an apprentice over the age of 21 has to go onto adult rates. So, many people do actually make the decision some time later in their lives that they would like to get training in a trade but then, on going to find a suitable employer, find that quite often they are at the back of the queue because their age makes them more expensive to employ than a young person who has come straight out of a secondary school. That also holds us back. There does need to be easier entry for people of that age. There needs to be more support there. And there need to be more incentives so that we do get more people into these areas where we have ongoing skills shortages in many cases.

The investment also includes incentive payments of $4,000 that will be extended to employers of all diploma and advanced diploma apprentices and trainees. Again, there are a lot of areas that are not what are regarded as traditional trades but are certainly technical occupations. Many times they are bypassed when we talk about trades or when we go to the other end of the scale and talk about training through universities. These occupations in many cases are hands-on but also have a high level of knowledge and understanding that goes beyond what may be standard trade training. As a qualified tradesperson, I certainly welcome these initiatives aimed at increasing training in skills for Australia’s future, and I think every member of this House should. I think the more we can do that, the better. I commend this bill to the House.

Yvette D'Ath (Petrie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to support the Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Australian Apprentices) Bill 2009. I would like to put on the record my acknowledgement of the contributions made by my parliamentary colleagues on this bill. There is no doubt, as we just heard from the member for Deakin, that it is extremely important that this government has a commitment to upskilling Australian workers, particularly focusing on the need to obtain trade qualifications in those key areas where there continue to be skills shortages. Although what we are seeing as a consequence of the global economic crisis is an increase in unemployment, that does not in any way absolve this government from its responsibility of ensuring that we continue with our program to have more and more people take up trade qualifications, to build trade training centres in our secondary schools and to encourage mature-age persons to take up trade qualifications so that when we move forward, and the economy starts to grow again, that skills base that we so desperately need is there.

It is true to say that to be able to truly deliver on that infrastructure commitment that this government has made, both in the short term and the long term, and help grow the economy, we are going to need those trade skills in our local communities so that the businesses and the employers that are tendering for this work have those people with those skills ready and available at the time so they can take up those opportunities.

This bill is an important bill because what it seeks to do is exempt the value of the payments made under the Skills for Sustainability for Australian Apprentices and the Tools for Your Trade initiative under the Australian Apprenticeships Incentives Program from treatment as assessable income for taxation, social security and veterans affairs purposes. This is extremely important. It makes sure that this payment will go to these apprentices in full and they will be able to receive the full benefit, and consequently all of the assistance, that comes with that additional income. Alternatively, what would have happened is that part of that payment would have been taken up in taxation. That would have meant, in relation to Tools for Your Trade, that those apprentices would in fact have been able to purchase fewer of the materials required for that trade; and, for Skills for Sustainability for Australian Apprentices, it would not have been providing as much financial support as will be available as a result of this bill.

I had the opportunity yesterday in this House to speak on the Social Security Amendment (Training Incentives) Bill 2009. What that bill sought to do was provide additional payments for those people on parenting payments and those people on Newstart allowance who have not completed their grade 12 qualification or equivalent to get a further qualification and to encourage them to do that through this additional payment. This bill before us is another step, another commitment by the Rudd Labor government in its efforts to support people, including those with low skills in the workforce or those who are unemployed and those who are seeking to obtain trade qualifications to get those skills and to get the financial support that they deserve while undertaking the studies for those qualifications.

These two particular payments in the bill before the House go to two issues, as I said. The Skills for Sustainability for Australian Apprentices payment is part of a pilot program within the Skills for the Carbon Challenge initiative. This payment and this initiative have come out of the Australia 2020 Summit. As we have heard, many great ideas came out of the Australia 2020 Summit. I am pleased to state, as I have before, that a large proportion of my schools participated in the 2020 Summit by holding their own summits dealing with the same topics and contributing towards the overall debate that went on with the 2020 Summit.

The outcome of the summit is aimed at accelerating the tertiary education sector’s response to climate change. It will encourage Australian apprentices to undertake sustainability related training. The payment of $1000 will be provided to eligible Australian apprentices who have successfully completed the required level of training, which teaches skills in sustainability and environmentally sustainable work practices. This program and this payment not only provides financial support or an incentive for people undertaking apprenticeships in sustainability related training but is absolutely crucial to this government’s commitment as part of the renewable energy target and the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. For us to meet those targets, for this country to move forward and start looking at alternative clean energy sources and new ways to do business and to produce materials, we need a skilled workforce to undertake that work and we need to be identifying those skills now and training people up so that we are ready to embrace those new initiatives, those new technologies and all that will come out of all of the initiatives to achieve that renewable energy target and to implement the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme.

One of the things happening in my electorate that touches very much on this initiative is, I think, extremely exciting and deserves recognition. Ray Gannon is the founder of Dug the Dugong, which is an initiative to educate children and the community about the importance of our environment and Moreton Bay, particularly the dugongs that live in the bay but more broadly the environment. He has also created the Moreton Bay Environmental Challenge Awards. This is a competition launched in April that goes for 12 months. The competition encourages children to make solar panelled billycarts or some other form of transport that is solar powered. One of my schools, Woody Point Special School, is actually building a solar powered wheelchair. I have met the student who is going to be driving the wheelchair and he cannot wait to be in the race next year. But those fantastic environmental challenge awards are just part of a bigger initiative, and that is what I want to talk to this chamber about today.

That initiative is the Peninsula Power Project. This project aims to help make the Redcliffe peninsula an independent electrical energy resource which, over the next decade, will become a net energy provider for its local and wider community. This project is designed to encourage and facilitate the installation of renewable and sustainable electrical energy-generating devices wherever possible and practicable. In simple terms, the Peninsula Power Project target is to see solar and wind power generators as an integral part of as many domestic, commercial, industrial and institutional premises as possible by 2020. The Peninsula Power Project envisages a multilayered approach to help the Redcliffe peninsula become a solar powerhouse. Those layers will, for example, help educate and promote sustainable energy on the peninsula, including schoolchildren through the Moreton Bay Environmental Challenge Awards; encourage vocational training and job creation in green energy technology fields; and help establish the first solar electrical apprenticeship training and accreditation in Queensland. Initial discussions have already begun in this regard.

That means that, as part of this project to have the Redcliffe peninsula as a solar energy hub and a renewable and sustainable electrical energy-generating area, we are creating new jobs. We are hoping to create new apprenticeships that are sustainable for the long term. That particular initiative, as part of this project, is exactly what Skills for Sustainability for Australian Apprentices is all about. The group will lobby for and encourage energy audits for municipal premises, depots, workshops and service facilities, including sewage and waste disposal areas. It will lobby for and encourage energy audits for all state and Commonwealth facilities on the peninsula, including hospitals, schools, medical centres and offices. It will also encourage energy audits for domestic households on the peninsula.

This is a fantastic project, a fantastic initiative, which I fully endorse. I have certainly put my support behind this program. There are solar energy businesses all over the Redcliffe peninsula and the broader community of north Brisbane who have put their support behind this program. We have training organisations who want to help take up this initiative. We are creating jobs, we are creating training opportunities and we are creating a renewable energy area for the Redcliffe peninsula. It could not be more exciting for my area and my electorate. I look forward to keeping this House informed of how that program is going ahead.

The second initiative relates to Tools For Your Trade, and we have heard other members speak to that. The Tools for Your Trade payment falls within the broader Australian Apprenticeship Incentives Program. It combines and extends three administratively complex programs previously available to Australian apprentices into one payment. I know, from my previous work, that there were many, many apprentices who had difficulties with the administration of the Tool for Your Trade funding and with the vouchers that they received. Many did not receive the payments they should have and there were real issues with the implementation of those programs. This bill streamlines those programs into a new benefit which comprises five separate cash payments totalling $3,800 over the life of the Australian apprenticeship. This will certainly assist many apprentices to obtain the tools that they need for their trade throughout their training and beyond. This is another fantastic initiative.

This bill, which provides an exemption for the value of the payments, ensuring that the full benefit flows, complements a bill I spoke to previously in this parliament which provided the same benefit but provided for an early completion bonus for apprentices. That bill ensured that the full benefit of the early completion bonus for apprentices flowed on to those apprentices. It was an incentive to complete their apprenticeships early and get out into the workforce with those full qualifications. This bill adds to that. It ensures that, wherever possible, the full complement of allowances and payments for apprentices flows all the way through and assists our apprentices into the workforce.

I certainly commend this bill to the House. I believe it is another important initiative as part of this government’s overall commitment to training and apprenticeships. It adds to a range of incentives and initiatives that not only were announced in this budget but have been rolled out since the Rudd Labor government came into power in 2007. We will continue with our commitment to do everything possible to support people in the community to upskill and to gain new qualifications and skills in those areas that are so desperately needed. These measures will not just support jobs and create employment opportunities in the short term but will further this government’s commitment to nation building for the future.

Steve Georganas (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I call the Deputy Prime Minister.

Michael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Keenan interjecting

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

in reply—I thank the shadow minister for employment and workplace relations at the table for his fulsome support of my right to speak in this parliament—it is very gratifying. I thank every member who has contributed to this debate. The Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Australian Apprentices) Bill 2009 makes minor adjustments to the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997, the Social Security Act 1991 and the Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986 to exempt from taxation and treatment as taxable income payments made to Australian apprentices under two new Australian government programs: Skills for Sustainability for Australian Apprentices and the Tools for Your Trade program. These come under the Australian Apprenticeships Incentives Program.

The introduction of two new programs, Skills for Sustainability for Australian Apprentices and the Tools for Your Trade payment, is part of a much broader suite of programs to support Australian apprentices and their employers. These programs will provide valuable employment and training opportunities for those Australians looking to gain skills or retrain and will ensure Australia’s skill base is protected and maintained. To this end, funding for Australian apprenticeship and related programs is at record levels, with $5 billion being committed by the government over the next four years.

The first of the two programs, the Skills for Sustainability for Australian Apprentices pilot, aims to encourage Australian apprentices to develop new skills and a more integrated knowledge about sustainable work practices. The program delivers a personal benefit payment of $1,000 to eligible Australian apprentices in selected occupations following completion of the required level of sustainability related training. The goal is to develop an appropriately skilled workforce that can meet the rising demand for sustainable buildings, technologies and industries. Industry skills councils have examined the current impacts of environmental sustainability on their industry sectors and identified training package units that have environmental or sustainability issues as central principles of competency. Where new sustainability related skills and knowledge are needed, the industry skills councils have developed and endorsed new units to target these skills. Undertaking study in a range of selected units and occupations will attract the incentive payment. It is expected these units will be monitored and reviewed as further research identifies new sustainability demands emerging in industry. Eligibility for the incentive will be adjusted accordingly to target areas of greatest need.

The second new Australian government program, the Tools for Your Trade payment, combines into one payment three administratively complex programs previously available to Australian apprentices. The payment provides essential financial support in order to maintain apprenticeship rates and to encourage completion of training. The new arrangements broaden eligibility for the payment, supporting more Australian apprentices. The streamlined delivery arrangements also remove unnecessary red tape for Australian apprentices and their employers. The new Tools for Your Trade payment provides Australian apprentices with $3,800 over the life of the Australian apprenticeship and comprises five cash payments, with $800 paid at the three-, 12- and 24-month points and $700 at the 36-month point and on successful completion.

This new payment replaces the administratively complex Tools for Your Trade voucher program, the Commonwealth Trade Learning Scholarship and the apprenticeship wage top-up payment. Arrangements are in place to ensure a smooth transition from these programs to the new payment, which will guarantee that no Australian apprentice will be disadvantaged. Those Australian apprentices who commence their training after the closing date for the old programs will be eligible for payments under the new Tools of Your Trade payment.

This bill allows eligible Australian apprentices to receive the full benefit of payments under the two new programs without the payments being subjected to taxation. The bill also ensures that Australian apprentices who receive payments under the program will continue to receive the full benefit of their Centrelink and veterans entitlements. The amendments proposed in this bill are consistent with taxation treatment of previous programs that deliver personal benefit payments to Australian apprentices. Measures proposed in this bill provide support and stability to Australian apprentices as we continue to build a strong national skills base in preparation for economic recovery.

I commend the bill to the House, thank members for their contributions in the debate and ask that the House support the bill.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

Message from the Governor-General recommending appropriation announced.